News Releases

EPA Appoints New Heads of Two Independent Science Advisory Committees

WASHINGTON – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa P. Jackson has appointed two engineers to serve as the Chairs of two independent Federal Advisory Committees, the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) and the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC). Dr. David Allen, an internationally recognized engineer specializing in air quality will serve as the SAB Chair, and Dr. H. Christopher Frey, an environmental engineer expert in quantitative methods for dealing with variability and uncertainty, will serve as the CASAC Chair. They each will serve a two-year term.

“At EPA, using the best science available as we work to protect human health and the environment is critical. I'm honored to appoint Dr. David Allen and Dr. H. Christopher Frey, who will bring their expertise and unique talents to the helm of the SAB and CASAC, respectively, and help us ensure that science remains the backbone of all we do," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “We’re grateful to Dr. Deborah Swackhamer, outgoing SAB chair, and Dr. Jonathan Samet, outgoing CASAC chair, for their dedicated service and leadership over the past four years.”

Dr. David Allen is the Gertz Regents Professor of Chemical Engineering and the Director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Resources at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin. As Director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Resources at UT-Austin and as Director of the Air Quality Research Program of the State of Texas, he brings extensive leadership experience to the job.

Dr. H. Christopher Frey is Professor of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. He directs a multidisciplinary research program in the broad area of environmental systems analysis, including development and demonstration of quantitative methods for risk assessment, technology evaluation, and air pollutant emissions. Dr. Frey is a past president of the Society for Risk Analysis.

The SAB and the CASAC are independently chartered Federal Advisory Committees composed of external scientists and engineers. The SAB provides advice to the EPA Administrator on the scientific and technical information being used or proposed as the basis for EPA decisions. The CASAC provides advice to the EPA Administrator on the technical bases for EPA's standards for criteria air pollutants.